Micro inertial measurement system

ABSTRACT

A micro inertial measurement system includes a housing, a sensing module, and a damper. The sensing module includes a rigid sensing support, a measuring and controlling circuit board mounted on the rigid sensing support and an inertial sensor set on the measuring and controlling circuit board. The inertial sensor includes a gyroscope and an accelerometer. The sensing module is mounted in the housing. The damper is mounted in the housing and set in the gap between the sensing module and the inside wall of the housing. By use of the above-mentioned structure, the noise immunity of the inertial measuring system can be greatly improved, and the volume and weight of the inertial measuring system can be greatly reduced.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 13/809,407, filed Jan. 9. 2013, which is a U.S. National stage ofPCT/CN2010/79483 filed on Dec. 6, 2010, which claims the priority ofChinese patent application No. 201010250948.4 filed on Aug. 9, 2010,which applications are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to strapdown inertial navigationtechnology used on carriers such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a micro inertialmeasurement system used in a strapdown inertial navigation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

At present, strapdown inertial navigation is a type of booming andadvanced navigation technology. Wherein, inertial elements including agyroscope, an accelerometer and so on which are fixed to a carrier aredirectly used for measuring an acceleration of the carrier relative toan inertial reference system. Then the information on the speed,attitude angle and position in a navigation coordinate system can beachieved by an integral operation based on the Newton law of inertia, soas to guide the carrier from a start point to a destination. Besides, inthe strapdown inertial navigation technology, mathematical operationscomprising coordination transformation and differential equationsolution on measured data by the gyroscope and the accelerometer areconducted by a control computer, in order to extract the attitude dataand navigation data from elements in an attitude matrix to finish thenavigation mission. In the strapdown inertial navigation system, a“mathematical platform” built based on updated data such as an updatedstrapdown matrix is in place of a traditional electromechanicalnavigation platform so as to achieve a simplified system structuresignificantly reduced system volume and cost as well as inertialelements easy to install and maintain. Moreover, the strapdown inertialnavigation system is independent of external system support, thusobtaining the information about attitude, speed and position on its own.It doesn't radiate any information to outside neither. Therefore, dueits advantages such as being real-time, independent, free ofinterruption, free of limitations of region, time and weather condition,as well as of comprehensive output parameters, it is widely applied inplurality of fields including aviation, sailing and traffic etc.

The strapdown inertial navigation system is usually composed of oneinertial measurement system, one control computer, a control display andassociated supporting components, wherein the inertial measurementsystem is the key is component for such overall system. The inertialmeasurement system is equipped with a gyroscope and an accelerometer,and its operation principle is as follows: at first, triaxial angularspeed of a carrier is detected by the gyroscope, and linear accelerationof a vehicle moving along the tri-axes is detected by the accelerometer;ever that, in order to calculate some voyage attitude information suchas instantaneous heading and inclination angle, the signal of angularspeed detected by the gyroscope is subjected to an integral operationwith respect to time by the control computer on one hand; on the otherhand, the signal of acceleration detected by the accelerometer issubjected to an integral operation with respect to time so as tocalculate the instantaneous velocity information; finally, a secondaryintegration is carried out to calculate the distance and position in thevoyage during this period of time.

The Inertial measurement system and its attitude solution technology arethe key technical links that have an impact on properties of thestrapdown inertial navigation system. This is because such inertialmeasurement and its attitude solution are the premises for controllingthe track of the carrier. Thus, their precision and efficiency have adirect influence on the aging and precision of the navigation. Secondly,since the inertial measurement system has to bear vibration, impact andangular motion directly in a rigorous pneumatic environment, it is easyto bring about many destabilization effect and error effect, therebybecoming a weak link of the strapdown Inertial navigation system.Thirdly, there are some challenges such as micromation andindustrialization for the strapdown inertial navigation system. Inparticular, with the development of microelectronic technology, it isrequired to employ micro electromechanical inertial components withintermediate precision or even low precision for the purpose ofproducing such strapdown inertial navigation product with low cost andin batches.

When the carrier tends to miniaturization and micromation, since itsfoundation mass is much smaller than that of a conventional carrier, itwill subject to more excitation and random vibration in the voyagedynamic environment and become more instable compared with theconventional carrier. Accordingly, in order to overcome the drawbacks ofinstable navigation, reduced precision and even shortened service lifeof electronic components, some targeted technical measures which aremainly in the aspects of mechanical structure, damping design and microtechnology have to be proposed for the inertial measurement system.

FIG. 1 is a structure diagram for an inertial measurement systememployed in a strapdown inertial navigation system of a small-sized UAVIn the prior art. Wherein, a sensing support 11 is fastened to theinterior of a housing 12 through a fastening screw, a damping unit 13 isformed by four rubber blankets, and the housing is fixed to a vehicle atits bottom. The sensing support is composed of three pieces of gyrocircuit board 111, 112 and 113 perpendicular to each other (referring toFIG. 2), on which are arranged three one-axis gyroscope 111 a, 112 a and113 a, respectively. The gyro circuit board 111 In the horizontalposition is a combined one. It is further provided with a triaxialaccelerometer 111 b besides the gyro 111 a. These three gyroscopesshould be installed on three orthogonal planes with their sensing axesperpendicular to each other to form an orthogonal coordinate system formeasurement. On the combined gyro circuit board 111, the measuring axisof the tri-axial accelerometer 111 b is in parallel with that of thegyro 111 a. The combined gyro circuit board 111 is in direct connectionwith a conditioning circuit board 114 and a master processor circuitboard 115 through a connector.

FIG. 3 illustrates an equivalent analysis for the damping structure ofthe above mentioned inertial measurement system. In the figure, a massblock M represents the inertial measurement system and its centre ofmass is the m; the damping unit is indicated by {K_(i),c_(i)} whereinthe K_(i) stands for rigidity, the C_(i) stands for damping coefficient,and the subscript i stands for the number of the damping unit containedin a damper; since four rubber blankets are used as the damping units inthe FIG. 1, i is equal to 1, 2, 3 and 4; B indicates a voyage carrierand P is the elastic centre of the damper. When the carrier B is duringvoyage, foundation excitation is produced for the inertial measurementsystem M. At this moment, in order to reduce the impact of the vibrationof the carrier B onto the inertial measurement system M, the dampingunit {K_(i),c_(i)} absorbs and consumes the forced vibration energy fromthe carrier B, and it starts an elastic movement up and down whiletaking the point P as a centre.

There are some problems for the above mentioned inertial measurementsystem:

(1) the sensing support is composed of three circuit boards separatedfrom each other, thus taking up too much space and resulting insignificant differences among the rigidity on the three axialdirections;

(2) since the damping units are installed outside of the inertialmeasurement system, they take up extra space; more importantly, when theinertial measurement unit is forced to vibrate, it is easy to havetorsional vibration due to unbalanced rigidity and irrational mechanicalstructure;

(3) for the damper, its ideal sphere of action is limited to one-axisdirection, that is, it can only attenuate the vibration from thevertical direction while having no effective suppression on thevibration from any other directions; as a result, linear vibration andangular vibration in different degrees of freedom can be coupledtogether and the damping band becomes narrow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Aiming at the above mentioned drawbacks in the prior art, the objectiveof the present invention is to solve the problems that the traditionalinertial measurement system takes up too much space, it is easy to havetorsional vibration and its damping frequency band is relatively narrow.

The technical solution for solving the above mentioned technicalproblems is as follows: a micro inertial measurement system is provided,comprising a housing, a sensing module and a damper; wherein the sensingmodule includes a rigid sensing support, a measuring and controllingcircuit board mounted on the sensing support and an inertial sensor seton the measuring and controlling circuit board; the inertial sensorincludes a gyroscope and an accelerometer; the sensing module isreceived in the housing; the damper is received in the housing and setin the gap between the sensing module and an inside wall of the housing.

In an advantageous solution of the present invention, the sensingsupport is a rigid support in the shape of cube and a groove is engravedon at least one of its surfaces; the measuring and controlling circuitboard is a flexible measuring and controlling circuit board; at least aportion of circuit components on the flexible measuring and controllingcircuit board is embedded in the groove on at least one surface.

In an advantageous solution of the present invention, six surfaces ofthe sensing support are all engraved with the groove; the number of theflexible measuring and controlling circuit board is up to six, and theflexible measuring and controlling circuit boards cover the surfaces ofthe sensing support respectively; the circuit components on eachflexible measuring and controlling circuit board are embedded in thegroove on the surface of its corresponding sensing support so as to makethe flexible measuring and controlling circuit board cover each surfaceof the sensing support smoothly.

In an advantageous solution of the present invention, the sensing modulealso includes an anti-aliasing circuit and an A/D switching circuit seton the flexible measuring and controlling circuit board; the inertialsensor includes three gyroscopes and one accelerometer; such circuitmodules in total are arranged on the flexible measuring and controllingcircuit boards, respectively.

In an advantageous solution of the present invention, the flexiblemeasuring and controlling circuit boards are integrated together to forma unitary structure, and they cover each surface of the sensing supportcompletely after they have bent by an angle of 90° long the edges of thesensing support.

In an advantageous solution of the present invention, the damperincludes at least two damping units that are arranged in the gap betweenone surface of the sensing module and the inside wall of the housing.Wherein, it is preferred that the damper comprises up to six dampingunits.

In advantageous solution of the present invention, the sensing module ishung at the centre of an inner cavity of the housing by up to sixdamping units, and the elastic centre P of the damper is coincident withthe centroidal m of the sensing module.

In an advantageous solution of the present invention, the housingincludes an upper housing with an opening at its lower part and a lowercover fit for the opening.

Due to the above mentioned technical solutions, the present inventionhas the following advantages: (1) not only the rigidity for the supportis increased, but also the system mechanical structure is improved, as aresult, the equal-rigidity vibration reduction in three dimensions isachieved, so that the noise immunity of the inertial measurement systemcan be greatly improved; (2) the vibration characteristics of theinertial measurement system is improved so that its inherent frequencyis significantly distinguished from the operating frequency of sensitivecomponents such as a shaker of the gyroscope; as a result, the relativeamplitude for a mounting surface of the inertial sensor is reduced to besmallest; (3) the volume and weight of the inertial measurement systemcan be greatly reduced to expand the load space of the carrier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a structure diagram for a strapdown inertial measurementsystem of a small-sized UAV in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a structure diagram for a sensing support in the inertialmeasurement system of FIG 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for an equivalent model of a damper in theinertial measurement system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates the distribution of internal damping units of adamper in one embodiment of the present invention; wherein the S in thefigure stands for an upper, a lower, a left and a right inside wall of ahousing;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for a sensing support in a preferredembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an outline view for a flexible measuring and controllingcircuit board and an arrangement diagram for components on the flexiblemeasuring and controlling circuit board; wherein the flexible measuringand controlling circuit board cooperates with the sensing support in theFIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for the composition of a sensing module ina preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a structure diagram for a housing that cooperates with thesensing module in the FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 Illustrates the position relation between an internal dampingunit and a sensing module that are employed in a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 10 is an assemblage diagrammatic sketch for a micro inertialmeasurement system in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

During operation, in the mechanical environment for a strapdown inertialnavigation system, the violent random vibration may often present. Thevibration may induce instability of the system and damage to electroniccomponents, which will impact on the system stability greatly. In orderto reduce such impact produced by the violent random vibration of acarrier, which may damage electronic components or make an inertialmeasurement unit unstable, except that the connection stiffness betweenrespective sensor circuit boards is strengthened, the inertialmeasurement unit is elastically connected to the carrier using a damperas a damping medium, so as to realize a desired damping effect. Sincethe selection of a damping mode influences both damping performance andmeasurement precision of the inertial navigation system, it is always animportant link in its structure design. In various aspects of thepresent invention, an improved design of sensing support and a rationaldamping mechanical structure may be operable to improve the performanceof the micro inertial measurement system.

The sensing support is a key component for mounting a gyroscope, ameasuring and controlling circuit board and a connecting wire. Thesensing support may suffer a variety of violent vibration duringoperation, in which case a mounting surface for the gyroscope has therelative maximum amplitude. Therefore, dynamic properties for thestructure of the mounting surface will definitely impact on theoperating reliability and accuracy of the gyroscope. To minimize suchimpact, it is required to possess a certain static strength,anti-vibration strength and fatigue life. With respect to process, thesupport is required to be easy to mount and manufacture. Besides, thestructure for the support is designed rationally as well as its rigidityand damping performance are improved, so that its inherent frequency isdefinitely significantly distinguished from the operating vibrationfrequency of a shaker of the gyroscope and the relative amplitude forthe mounting surface of the gyroscope is minimized. In the prior art, atraditional method for optimizing the support is shown as follows: wallthickness is greatly increased to enhance the rigidity and increase theinherent frequency of the corresponding structure. In the presentinvention, the structural design is improved by optimizing material,shape and joint surface, instead of increasing thickness unilaterally,so as to enhance the structural rigidity and damping performance of thesupport. In addition, the conditionality between the support and adamping device should be resolved on the whole. The mounting positionand the line route of the measuring and controlling circuit board on thesupport are also in the consideration.

It can be seen from the above description that, in order to overcome theabove mentioned technical drawbacks for the inertial measurement systemin the prior art, the following technical measures is taken in thepresent invention: a micro inertial measurement system is provided basedon the concept of improving its mechanical structure, wherein the systemhas a greatly reduced volume and includes a damping structure withthree-dimensional equal rigidity; the micro inertial measurement systemis provided in such a way that harmful effects of various drawbacksincluding three-dimensional unequal rigidity, resonance excitation andtorsional vibration on the strapdown inertial navigation system oreovercome.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 4-10.Such micro inertial measurement system comprises a sensing module 12, adamping unit, an upper housing 16 and a lower cover 18.

Wherein, the sensing module 12 comprises a sensing support 121, aninertial sensor 122 and a flexible measuring and controlling circuitboard 123. In this embodiment, the sensing support 121 is a rigid andcube-shaped support satisfying certain requirements of specific gravityand rigidity. And the sensing support 121 is engraved with a groove onits respective surface.

The inertial sensor 122 comprises a gyroscope and an accelerometer. Inparticular, it comprises three gyroscopes and one accelerometer, all ofwhich are welded onto the flexible measuring and controlling circuitboard 123.

The flexible measuring and controlling circuit board 123 should have afunction of preprocessing sensor signals. For this purpose, suchflexible measuring and controlling circuit board 123 should comprise atleast an anti-aliasing circuit and an A/D switching circuit. On onehand, a circuit board and connecting wire are made of flexible materialto withstand the bending of 90°. On the other hand, the shape of theflexible measuring and controlling circuit board should be congruent tothat of the developed plane of the sensing support, so that they cancover each surface of the sensing support completely and smoothly afterthey are bent by an angle of 90° along the edges of the sensing support.

In certain implementation, six circuit modules composed of theanti-aliasing circuit, the A/D switching circuit, the three gyroscopesand the one accelerometer are arranged on six flexible measuring andcontrolling circuit boards, respectively. Moreover, the circuitcomponents on each flexible measuring and controlling circuit board arerespectively embedded in the groove on its corresponding surfaces of thesensing support.

An inner cavity that is formed by the upper housing 16 and the lowercover 18 should have a shape similar to the configuration of the sensingmodule 12, and the volume of the inner cavity is relatively larger thanthat of the sensing module 12. As a result, respective space formedbetween each inside wall of the housing and the corresponding plane ofthe sensing module is approximately the same to each other, in which isinstalled an internal damping units 14.

The internal damper is composed of a number of internal damping units{K_(i),c_(i)} 14 with appropriate damping properties. Such Internaldamping units are mounted between the inside wall S of the upper housing16 and the six planes of the sensing module 12. The number of theinternal damping units is determined depending on the vibrationcharacteristics of different carriers, the maximum of which is 6. Thesensing module is hung at the centre of the inner cavity of the housing.In this arrangement, the respective force axis of deformation for eachinternal damping unit is orthogonal to each other, and the elasticcentre P of the damper coincides with the centroidal m of the sensingmodule, so that the forced vibration from the carrier is absorbed andconsumed uniformly. In specific implementation, the damping unit is madeof elastic matter with certain damping effect. Such elastic matter maybe selected from but not limited to spring, rubber blanket, silica gel,sponge or any other damping matter.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sensing support121 in the shape of a cube is made of metal material or non-metalmaterial with a certain gravity and rigidity and manufactured using anintegral forming process. The integral forming instead of assembling fora sensing support 121 is employed to ensure that rigidity of the supportitself is enough to reduce measurement error caused by insufficientrigidity and anisotropy (referring to FIG. 5).

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the developed plane of aflexible measuring and controlling circuit board 123 and an arrangementfor components thereon, according to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention. The circuit substrate and the connecting wire of theflexible measuring and controlling circuit board 123 are both made offlexible material to withstand bending of 90°. Besides, its shape isdesigned to be congruent to that of the developed outer plane of thesensing support, such that the flexible measuring and controllingcircuit board has six developed planes. Sensors and any other electroniccomponents are respectively welded in appropriate positions on the frontside of the six developed planes.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a sensingmodule in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. An inertialsensor 122 and any other electronic components are welded on the frontside of the flexible measuring and controlling circuit board 123. Thefront side of the flexible measuring and controlling circuit board isattached to the sensing support 121 and bends by an angle of 90° alongthe edges of the sensing support. Then each sensor or electroniccomponent is embedded into the groove on each surface of the sensingsupport. After that, the back side of the whole flexible measuring andcontrolling circuit board directs outward. Such that, the flexiblemeasuring and controlling circuit board can enclose the sensing supporttogether with the sensing component and electronic component therein, aswell as cover each surface of the sensing support completely andsmoothly.

In the present invention, the primary consideration for designing thestrapdown inertial navigation damping system is how to avoid or reducecoupled vibration. If the mechanical structure of such system isirrational, the respective vibration in its six degrees of freedom willbe coupled to each other, so as to produce a cross excitation of alinear vibration and an angular vibration. As a result, the detecteddata of the inertial measurement system would contain cross excitationinformation of its own, consequently a pseudo movement signal would beintroduced into the system, which may significantly impact themeasurement precision of the inertial navigation system. In order toreduce the interference produced by the damper during the measurement ofangular motion of the system, the angular vibration frequency of thedamping system should be significantly distinguished from the measuringbandwidth of the inertial navigation system. In the circumstances ofbroad-band random vibration, the lower the damping frequency is, thehigher the damping efficiency is.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a housing 16 in a preferredembodiment of the present invention; wherein the housing 16 forms aninner cavity in the shape of cube together with a lower cover 18 (notshown in the figure for clarity). The inner cavity is used for holdingthe sensing module 12 and the damping units 14. In this case, comparedwith the shape of the sensing module 12, the inner cavity of the housingformed as mentioned above is designed to have the same shape, i.e. inthe shape of cube, and have a relative larger volume. Upon such design,the respective space formed between each of the six inside walls of thehousing and the corresponding one of the six outer surfaces of thesensing module has a nearly same shape and size to each other; wherein,the six inside walls of the housing are formed by the upper housing 16and the lower cover 18. When the damping units 14 with approximately thesame shape respectively are mounted in the space, an assembly ofinternal damper is completed, so as to provide relatively excellentdamping effect.

FIG. 9 illustrates a position relation between an internal dampercomposed of all internal damping units 14 and a sensing module accordingto a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment,in order to effectuate an effective attenuation or a complete absorptionof the forced vibration on the sensing module 12 in the six degrees offreedom comprising front and back, right and left, and up and downdegrees of freedom, six internal damping units 14, i.e. six damping padsof the same shape are mounted between the inside wall of the upperhousing 16 and the sensing module 12; besides, the sensing module ishung at the centre of the inner cavity of the housing, and therespective force axis of deformation for each internal damping unit isorthogonal to each other, so that the forced vibration from the carrieris absorbed and consumed uniformly.

FIG. 10 is an assemblage diagrammatic sketch for a micro inertialmeasurement system 2.1 in a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. Due to a series of technical measures mentioned above, it isensured that all of the inherent frequency, damping coefficient, dampingefficiency and mechanical strength of the damper can meet therequirement of impact and vibration resistance. Such that, in the threecoordinate systems of the micro inertial measurement system, i.e. anelastic coordinate system, an inertial coordinate system and a solutioncoordinate system, their respective corresponding coordinate axes are inparallel with each other, and the centroidal of the measurement systemis coincident with the elastic centre of the damping device. In suchoptimal state, significant decoupling effect is achieved amongvibrations in each degree of freedom, and the respective inherentfrequency is approximate to each other to implement a technical effectof narrow frequency distribution.

The micro inertial measurement system of the present invention can beapplied for UAVs, automatic driving aircraft, watercraft and underwaterautomatic detection equipment or various cars and robots and so on.Apart from the embodiments above, there are some other implementationsfor the present invention. For example. (1) the housing is not limitedto be formed by the coordination between the upper housing and the lowercover; instead, it can be formed by the coordination between a lowerhousing and an upper cover or between a middle housing and an uppercover as well as a lower cover; (2) integrated processing can beperformed on all or portions of the six functional modules of theflexible measuring and controlling circuit board, so that the number ofthe flexible measuring and controlling circuit board can be reduced tobe less than six, and the number of the groove on the surface of thesensing support can be correspondingly reduced as well; (3) the supportcan be in the shape of cuboid and the structure of the circuit board isadjusted accordingly at this moment. It can be seen that all relevantand equivalent alternative technical solution should be within the scopeof protection claimed by the present invention.

1.-10. (canceled)
 11. An inertial measurement device, the devicecomprising: a sensing module comprising a support and a measuringcircuit board; a housing containing the sensing module; and one or moredamping units arranged between the sensing module and the housing;wherein the measuring circuit board comprises three gyroscope circuitboards, each of the three gyroscope circuit boards comprises a frontsurface configured to support a gyroscope and a back surface oppositethe front surface, and wherein the support comprises a plurality ofexternal surfaces facing away from one another, each of the threegyroscope circuit boards is coupled to one different external surface ofthe plurality of external surfaces with the gyroscope embedded within agroove on the external surface, each of the one or more damping unitsbeing in contact with the back surface of one of the three gyroscopecircuit boards.
 12. The device of claim 11, wherein the measuringcircuit board is a flexible circuit board.
 13. The device of claim 12,wherein the support comprises a cube-shaped structure comprising sixexternal surfaces.
 14. The device of claim 13, wherein the flexiblecircuit board comprises six panels and wherein each of the six panelssubstantially covers a corresponding external surface of the supportwhen the flexible circuit board is folded.
 15. The device of claim 11,wherein the measuring circuit board comprises an accelerometer circuitboard configured to support an accelerometer, the accelerometer circuitboard is coupled to another one different external surface of theplurality of external surfaces with the accelerometer embedded within agroove on the external surface.
 16. The device of claim 15, wherein themeasuring circuit board comprises an anti-aliasing circuit and an A/Dswitching circuit, each of the anti-aliasing circuit and the A/Dswitching circuit is coupled to another one different external surfaceof the plurality of external surfaces with electrical componentssupported by the anti-aliasing circuit and the A/D switching circuitembedded within a groove on the external surface.
 17. The device ofclaim 11, wherein the back surface of the each of the three gyroscopecircuit boards does not support any electrical components.
 18. Thedevice of claim 11, wherein at least one of the three gyroscope circuitboards is further configured to support an accelerometer.
 19. The deviceof claim 11, wherein the one or more damping units are arranged relativeto the sensing module such that an elastic center of the one or moredamping units substantially coincides with a centroid of the sensingmodule.
 20. The device of claim 11, wherein the one or more dampingunits comprise six damping units, each of the six damping units arrangedbetween the sensing module and the housing.
 21. The device of claim 11,wherein a shape of each of the three gyroscope circuit boards iscongruent to a shape of the one external surface of the support.
 22. Thedevice of claim 11, wherein the support is manufactured using anintegral forming process.
 23. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV),comprising: a sensing module comprising a support and a measuringcircuit board; a housing containing the sensing module; and one or moredamping units arranged between the sensing module and the housing;wherein the measuring circuit board is configured to generate a signalindicative of a rotation of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and comprisesthree gyroscope circuit boards, each of the three gyroscope circuitboards comprises a front surface configured to a support a gyroscope anda back surface opposite the front surface, and wherein the supportcomprises a plurality of external surfaces facing away from one another,each of the three gyroscope circuit boards is coupled to one differentexternal surface of the plurality of external surfaces with thegyroscope embedded within a groove on the external surface, each of theone or more damping units being in contact with the back surface of oneof the three gyroscope circuit boards.
 24. The UAV of claim 23, furthercomprising a control computer operably coupled to the measuring circuitboard and configured to receive and process the signal in order todetermine the rotation of the unmanned aerial vehicle.
 25. A method forfabricating an inertial measurement device, comprising: providing asupport comprising the plurality of external surfaces; and providing ameasuring circuit board comprising three gyroscope circuit boards, eachof the three gyroscope circuit boards comprises a front surfaceconfigured to a support a gyroscope and a back surface opposite thefront surface; coupling each of three the three gyroscope circuit boardsrespectively to one different external surface of the plurality ofexternal surfaces by embedding the gyroscope within a groove on theexternal surface, thereby forming a sensing module; and arranging one ormore damping units on the back surface of each of the three gyroscopecircuit boards, so as to position the damping units between the sensingmodule and a housing containing the sensing module.
 26. The method ofclaim 25, wherein the measuring circuit board further comprises anaccelerometer circuit board configured to support an accelerometer, andwherein the method further comprises coupling the accelerometer circuitboard to another one different external surface of the plurality ofexternal surfaces by embedding the accelerometer supported by theaccelerometer circuit board within a groove on the external surface. 27.The method of claim 25, wherein the measuring circuit board comprises ananti-aliasing circuit and an A/D switching circuit, and the methodfurther comprises coupling the anti-aliasing circuit and the A/Dswitching circuit respectively to another one different external surfaceof the plurality of external surfaces by embedding electrical componentssupported by the anti-aliasing circuit and the A/D switching circuitwithin a groove on the external surface.
 28. The method of claim 25,further comprising mounting the housing onto an unmanned aerial vehicle.29. The method of claim 25, wherein the support comprises a cube-shapedstructure comprising six external surfaces.
 30. The method of claim 25,wherein the measuring circuit board is a flexible circuit board.